David Lerach, Ph.D., associate professor of meteorology at the University of Northern Colorado, emphasizes the variety of weather-related threats across the U.S. “Weather-related threats to society and residential areas are wide-ranging and vary from year to year,” he says. “Here in the U.S., the most common hazards to homeowners include localized wind and hail from severe thunderstorms, followed by tropical storms and tornadoes.”
From 1980–2024, 403 natural disasters caused $1 billion or more in damages, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information(NCEI). In 2024 alone, 27 climate disasters caused $1 billion or more in damage, exceeding the annual average since 2020 by four events. Compare this to an average of nine events per year from 1980–2024.
Of the 403 billion-dollar natural disaster events that have occurred from 1980–2024:
- 203 severe storms cost $514.3 billion in total.
- 67 tropical cyclone events caused $1,543.2 billion in damage.
- 45 flooding events racked up $203 billion in related costs.
